Someone You'd Admire
by plum.peony
Summary: Short and sweet snippets of Zuko's and Mai's relationship at different points in their life. With the beginnings of Mai's unrequited crush, to their growth as young adults in a committed relationship. Maiko.
1. Chapter 1

Avatar: The Last Airbender & Characters © Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko

I do not own anything, and this is just for fun.

**A/N:** I'm trying a bit of a different writing style than I'm normally used to with this one, but anywho, this is a maiko piece that is just going to be little snippets from different times in their life. It probably won't be very long, either.

* * *

Zuko hates playing with Azula and her friends. The way she speaks to their mother infuriates him. She elicits the desired response, forcing him to join in her game. Forcing him because Zuko cannot—_will not_—say no to his mother, no matter how much he hates playing with Azula and her friends.

He doesn't hide his indignation, expressing it in the angry slant of his eyebrows and the stubborn jut of his pouting mouth. Azula displays that snide grin she hides in their mother's presence, and he just knows she's laughing at him. In that moment he thinks he hates his sister. But he's still a child, and hate is only a nasty word.

He shifts his gaze to Ty Lee, who is annoyingly sanguine with her wide, pretty eyes and her playful smiles. She sidesteps towards him and elbows his arm affectionately. He groans and looks over at the third one, the quiet one. Their eyes meet for a second, before her gaze falls to the ground. He feels his expression falter, and suddenly he isn't so angry anymore. He decides in that moment that Mai is his favorite of Azula's friends. She never laughs when Azula torments him, and he likes that about her.

Immediately after anger, he feels disinterest—whatever game Azula has planned is sure to bore him, he thinks. He is wrong, of course. The game is a cruel one, but the target is Mai instead of him for a change, and his heart begins to race when the apple stem catches fire. Horrified for her safety, he sprints forward to knock the ablaze apple from her head—but realizes his overeager stride only too late, as he collides with her slim, feather-light figure, and sends both of them into the fountain with a startled yelp.

He looks down at her, relieved to see that her hair isn't burnt. There is an expression of contained rage on her face, and he mistakenly thinks she is looking at him. Embarrassment seizes him, and suddenly he is angry once more. He gets up quickly, without offering to help her up, and strides from the garden. Girls are irritating, and also confusing.

* * *

Her face burns with humiliation. Mai wonders if she will ever get over this embarrassment. She will, with time, but right now she feels as though this is the worst thing that could have ever happened. She remembers sounding stupid when she cried out, having realized he was going to run into her. Her face feels even warmer.

She glances at Azula, who is positively tickled with glee. Mai feels the resentment boil in her gut, and she wants nothing more than to explode. Instead all she manages is a half-sentence, something to get her point across—Azula acts as though she doesn't care, and Mai doesn't know why she expected anything else. Ursa approaches the pond and offers her a hand out. Mai looks sheepish, as she allows the Fire Lady to help her out of her predicament. She misses the threatening glare Azula gives her.

Ursa looks apologetic, but says nothing as she sweeps Azula into the main house to peruse whatever letters General Iroh has sent them. Ty Lee is at her side the moment Azula disappears from sight, slipping an arm around the sulking girl's shoulders. Mai recoils from the embrace.

"I'm sorry, Mai."

It is not entirely sincere. There is that simplistic, blissful indifference in her tone—indifference towards the things Azula says and does. Things Mai seems to have difficulty accepting sometimes. Mai knows it was wrong of her to expect Ty Lee to do anything about it. She shrugs, and her shoulders feel heavy in her wet robes.

"It's all right." She still feels self-conscious, so she adds quietly, "Do you think he's mad at me?"

Ty Lee laughs a different laugh than before, one that isn't directed at her misery. Already Mai feels a little reassured, though also a little nervous. She had always admired Zuko from a comfortable, respectful distance, but just then he had rushed towards her recklessly—clumsily crashing through any personal boundaries that had been constructed between them. She is afraid to hope that he had been sincerely concerned for her safety. She is also afraid that someday he will be disappointing like so many other things in her life. She hopes anyways.


	2. Chapter 2

Avatar: The Last Airbender & Characters © Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko

I do not own anything, and this is just for fun.

**A/N: **Woohoo, second portion down. I'd place this around one year prior to Zuko's banishment on the timeline. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

There are many people who think Zuko looks like his father, but Mai disagrees. Surely there is that familial resemblance, but the similarities end there. There is life in his eyes, there is true joy when he smiles—he is so much unlike Fire Lord Ozai, so much unlike Azula. Her father worships the Fire Lord, as he should, but Mai feels unnerved in his presence or whenever his gaze sweeps down upon them from his seat. He has greedy eyes, she thinks. Azula is similar in that way, but it is more concealed, subtle. Azula appears happy often and easily, but her eyes never smile when her mouth does. Mai can feel her watching sometimes, usually whenever Mai says something out of turn. Then Azula laughs, and she only laughs because they both know if Azula wanted to she could punish Mai for her insolence. She never does though, and Mai feels emboldened by this.

Sometimes Mai wonders how Zuko could be the way he is, the way he is so unlike his family. There is the shadow of Fire Lady Ursa that follows in his steps, but it has been years since anyone spoke of her and she was now only a shade. Even still, Zuko seems to resist severing with traits his mother nurtured in order to impress the Fire Lord—and yet Zuko hungers for his approval all the same. Mai sees it at times. The clenched jaw and a wrinkle from an often-worn scowl, he is always in second place and Azula never fails to remind him of that. Mai attempted to comfort him once, but only met with wary confusion. The memory makes her blush.

By chance, she looks up from the book she is pretending to read and sees that he is approaching from down the hall. His portly, good-natured uncle is next to him—laughing freely and with much grandeur. Mai knows she is staring like a slack-jawed idiot, but she can't bring herself to care. Zuko is laughing as well. Although he is much more reserved than General Iroh, Mai thinks his laughter is nice. The tentative charm of it tickles her insides, and she almost smiles.

They take notice of her presence, and Mai turns her face back to her book. They approach her anyways, and she combs a lock of hair behind her ear—fingers anxious to be preoccupied. General Iroh smiles kindly and dips into a fair bow. Zuko mimics the action, without smiling.

"General Iroh, Prince Zuko." She mutters, standing up from the bench too quickly to be graceful. The book slides from her lap as she returns the bow. She looks stupid again, she realizes despairingly. General Iroh chuckles softly, before bending to pick up the book for her.

"Careful, you almost crushed your toes." He is too polite, too kind, sometimes.

"Thank you." She murmurs, before she nods and takes the book from him, face flushed. She wonders why Zuko is looking at her the way he is, as though something about her is perplexing. She turns her eyes back to General Iroh, who suddenly looks very mischievous. The older man smiles again and bids her farewell, before they both take their leave. Mai is both happy and sad when they are gone. She slumps down onto the bench, pretending to read again.

* * *

"What do you think about that young lady?"

He doesn't know why, but the question annoys him more than it should. What did he think of Mai? He was scowling again, as he considered his response. His first thought is to say that she is tolerable, he opens and then closes his mouth. While it was a true statement, Mai has always been the least irritating of Azula's friends, tolerable somehow felt an insufficient response. She is agreeable, perhaps. Again, true enough, but it still didn't feel right. Finally he shrugs, exhaling in an exasperated groan.

"I don't know…she's _nice_, I guess." He says, pointedly ignoring his uncle's sly eyes.

This makes Iroh laugh, as though he is privy to some secret joke. Zuko feels his scowl deepen, he grunts in disapproval. His uncle pats his back, a firm reassurance that he is not being mocked. Uncle Iroh never mocks him, Zuko remembers this and relaxes slightly. His fists unclench. He stops frowning so hard.

"Well, I think she likes you." Iroh says then, although Zuko isn't entirely sure what he means.

He and Mai are friends, he thinks. Why wouldn't she like him? She has never laughed at him, although now that he thought about it, he cannot remember ever seeing her laugh at all. Instead she possesses an air of adolescent bitterness. This makes him sad, and he frowns again.

"Do you think she's pretty?" Iroh prompts, a gentle teasing from an old romantic.

"Pretty?" Zuko scoffs, never having wondered about it before.

Pondering, over-thinking, he's debating whether or not pretty is the accurate word to describe Mai. Ty Lee is more classically pretty, he decides—but he doesn't like her as much as he likes Mai. Her eyes have an almost cautious, feline tilt to them, as apposed to Ty Lee's large, expressive ones. She has nice hair he supposes, thinking it looks soft like silk and smooth like ink. She is elegant, and yet not at the same time. He remembers the fluid motion of her standing from the bench, and the way the book carelessly spilled from her lap. He's not sure how to describe how he feels about that, but the accurate phrase is that it is endearing to him.

But he tells Uncle Iroh none of this, only shrugging his shoulders and sighing indifferently. He's too young to think about these things yet, and far too distracted by his father's expectations of him. He will not prioritize her, he will not focus on her, but at least he knows she's his favorite.


End file.
